Wednesday Bolts – 7.22.09

Not so much a doin’ on the Thunder front today. But worry not ladies and gents, I found a few things for you to peer at on this lovely Wednesday.

A story on Dime about James Harden and his destiny to be star: “Harden was known as being unselfish (sometimes too much) on an ASU squad that didn’t feature much depth offensively. This will be a huge added benefit to Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. Harden also has a reputation for deferring individual success and credit back towards his teammates. Doing this will not only help the Thunder have a calming presence on the floor, but will also solidify him as a player that teammates love to play with – and that, my friends, will lead to a lengthy career.”

NiceKicks.com has an interview with Kevin Durant: “Last week we caught up with Kevin Durant at the Gatorade Player of the Year Awards honoring the best high school athletes. In this interview, Kevin Durant discusses who inspired him on the on and off court, what he thinks about the controversial “1 year”, and of course a number of sneaker questions you would ask him as well.”

Tim Potvak of FanHouse on the NBA age limit rules: “Don’t you just love it when the politicians put their noses where they don’t belong, knowing they’ll probably screw up things? The NBA has been defending its age-requirement rule – a good rule that would be even better if another year was added — after Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) strongly urged the league to scrap it.”

More from Kevin Durant’s Nike commercial shoot with Rashard Lewis and Mo Williams:

Luke Byrnes of HoopsWorld looks ahead to the 2010 draft: “Willie Warren, So., Oklahoma – Warren is without a doubt the top shooting guard prospect in the 2010 NBA Draft. With former teammate and the top pick in the 2009 NBA Draft Blake Griffin off to the NBA, Warren will have the opportunity to show scouts he is capable of carrying a team on his back. The 6’4″ Warren plays the game with great energy, intensity and confidence, never shying away from the big shot, and emerged late in his freshman season as one of the top scorers in college basketball. Warren uses a quick first step to get into the lane where he can create for teammates, finish in traffic and get to the free throw line. Warren is something of a tweener (PG/SG) and must improve his decision making and shot selection and become more of a factor on the defensive end of the floor but is a definite lottery selection.”

Is OKC in the hunt for Ramon Sessions?: “What’s more, it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities a third team — NBA officials at the recent NBA Summer League in Las Vegas speculated Oklahoma City — may make a last-minute attempt to land Sessions as well. Officials from the Knicks and Clippers contacted Bucks general manager John Hammond Monday and they discussed Sessions’ situation. Both teams are considering offering Sessions their mid-level exception, which starts at $5.854 million in the first season. The annual salary then can increase each year thereafter by a maximum of eight percent — or $468,000.”

HoopsWorld graded the top six picks: “James Harden – Grade: B… Review: Because the Oklahoma City Thunder participated in both the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer Leagues we got a chance to see an extensive amount of James Harden and he did not disappoint. Harden may only have two years of college experience under his belt, but he plays the game like a six-year veteran. At times Harden looked just flat out scary alongside Russell Westbrook in the backcourt and when you also throw Kevin Durant and Jeff Green into the mix he’ll look even better. The Thunder have to be very pleased with what they saw from Harden.”

Rich, if Pollard is healthy and ready to play he needs to offer to come in and work out with teams or start doing it and leave the door open. The main knock on his game was the defensive rebounding was kinda light. Roster spots are also tight. Not sure Presti would trust him to mentor, as Pollard is more independent and not all basketball than I think Presti would want around the young guys. Teaching the nuances really should be Mark Bryant's job and if he doesn't do it well enough he shouldn't be there and that is or would be on Presti for tolerating. Collison has the experience of everything except being a little taller. I don't know how much he will help Mullens, Ibaka, White but as a professional / vet the right thing is to do it.

Sessions probably gets matched by Milwaukee. They are stupid if they don't. He is / will prove to be probably the best PG free agent value this year, next year or anytime soon. I don't think Presti will deviate from his previous commitment to Westbrook even to snatch up a good value that could be useful in a future trade. Sessions is a better overall scorer, defensive rebounder, defender and most importantly passer. Not necessarily a great leader yet or maybe ever, I don't know him up close. But he wouldn't replace Russell he'd replace Livingston and Thabo- if he came and split time at Pg and Sg. But he isn't coming unless they offered a good deal more money than anyone else. He'll want to start. He isn't coming but Presti probably would think Sessions isn't clearcut his kind of guy but most of the league isn't and most of the best players probably aren't either. Having those standards is one thing, making it work like the Spurs did is another. The Cavs are probably looser about off court and the Spurs might be drifting that way.

Pritchard has done a superb job rebuilding a bad, demoralized, overpaid team -- a laughing stock -- and now he's nitpicked for not things like not cashing in on LaFrentz's huge contract, technically a very difficult thing to do. Given a team deep in young talent that has improved rapidly, there is something to be said about the virtues of patience if the deals you really want to do don't work out, standing pat awhile and seeing how things develop, especially with Oden. Presti has a good chance of finding himself in a very similar situation pretty soon. Someone mentioned the Steelers recently. When they didn't win the Superbowl there first years in the playoffs, they didn't run out and trade for veterans, they developed Webster, Lambert, and Stallworth.

my post yesterday was inspired by reading somewhere that Pollard says he's healthy and ready to play, and I thought of the Thunder. Wouldn't he be worth a modest one-year to play a little post defense? and as a Sacramento resident, I can tell you he's fun to watch.

Pritchard definitely suffers a bit from hype, but some of it is deserved. He's proven that he's a competent GM willing and able to make moves to improve his team. This is a year Portland needed to add a piece or two that would push them to compete for the Western Conference title and give them a better shot at the championship. Instead, they look mostly like they did last year. There's still time, obviously, but I don't blame those who are underwhelmed.

Presti will look exactly the same if he continues to make smart decisions for the next 2-3 years, and then punts when the Thunder is on the cusp of cashing in on their talent.

As far as free agents, I'm pretty underwhelmed with the remaining prospects. My favorite of the bunch is Warrick. For his ability, he's a good value for what he'll likely be paid. Unfortunately, we don't really have room for him. He's like a skinnier Jeff Green that can't shoot 3s but is a better defender/blocker. Not to mention that Warrick is likely the kind of player Ibaka will turn into, assuming he develops. Oh well.

Really, I'm just hoping we get out hands on a steady, veteran PG via trade. I'm not super stoked about our PG stable behind WB.

Here is the one thing we do know: Sam Presti is always looking a deals. Doesn't mean he always does them, but how many of the moves he's made have been seen beforehand? If something presents itself that will benefit the team - either a difference-making player or greater flexibility later - he'll make it.

We are using it. We're using it by not blowing it on overpaid free agents like most of the other teams tend to do. If Presti signs a FA to a multi-year deal it's going to be on the books when it's time to re-sign KD/JG/RW. I'd much rather the Thunder have room to maneuver than tell their fans they can't resign a franchise player b/c of some FA contract from the summer of '09. Every year I have to read about this team and that team trying to dump a bad contract(s) b/c they overpaid for a player (investment) when if they'd shown some patience (or ability to scout) they could've used that money on a much better piece to their puzzle. I was just reading this morning that the Nets have 15 players under contract and have limited options when it comes to FA. That's just poor planning and as is the case with way too many teams, poor use of the salary cap. We don't need Milsaps contract or Boozers or Lees or AI etc. etc. etc. We need to add the final "piece" AFTER we make it to the playoffs and are ready to fight for a berth in the Conf/NBA finals.

I don't know that much about the finances of the NBA, but I do know that there is no point in any business spending money just because you can. Being under the cap just means the organization is saving money for later - not just in the cap space sense but also in the running a business sense. You could invest the saved money, buy better equipment, upgrade the facilities... If Sessions doesn't substantially improve this team, the MLE money for probably 2-3 years could be better spent elsewhere, in my opinion.

i agree 100% i can't wait to bump into him sometime. I've ran into uncle jeff once or twice i would just imagine kd fun to bump into. I talked to uncle jeff when we were both waiting in line at a panera bread :)

@DanTrue, cap space is only as useful as the player it buys, but what does Sessions bring to the table as a 15 minute backup? He can't shoot, so he doesn't give us anything new there. His assist/turn ratio is good, but even when he was setting himself up for a new contract, it was with his scoring, not his passing. Also, something that should really have been noted all year is that defense in the NBA is largely systematic. Sessions played under Scott Skiles, a guy who is very good at defense. The Thunder are still developing their system and getting players to buy in.

I think he is a fine player, but I don't see him being useful to a team already starting Westbrook given the salary required to land him.

I think sessions would be a great pickup. Cap space doesn't do you any good if you aren't using it, and a lot ofteams are going to have cap space next summer, so it won't be a rare as this summer. Sessions is young, 23, put up decent A/TO of close to 3, and held his man to a eFG% of 42% compared with westbrook's 50%. If we buyout Atkins, my vote is for the thunder to sign him.

@NixActually, Sessions is a pretty bad outside shooter. In 96 games, he's hit a total of 9 three pointers. Considering the contract he's looking at, I don't see us going for him. Considering he'd be a backup here, I don't know why he'd sign with us also.

The age limit article seemed kind of off. I agree that two years is better than one (you can at least earn an associates degree in that time), but I'm not sure that it is particularly better than no limit. Teams make bad mistakes no matter how old the kids are. Heck, Thabeet was in college for 3 years and still went second overall.

Not to mention, the examples he uses are poor. All the good high schoolers he mentioned were pretty darn good right away. Kobe can only be considered an exception because he was on the bench, but he was also picked 13th, not exactly a top pick. Also, he mentions Darko, Darius Miles, and Kwame Brown as examples of why the old system didn't work. Did he forget that Darko wouldn't have been playing in college? That Miles was actually looking very good until serious injury? That Greg Oden turned in an injury filled, underwhelming freshman year only to go first overall (probably the same stats Kwame would have put up)?

I'm not a fan of the one and done rule simply because no one really wins. The same teams win in college basketball, the same bad picks are made in the NBA, and most of the kids leave college with the same game they entered. The fact is, it's always up to the player to reach their potential. Playing under defense-first Izzo hasn't given Zach Randolph or Jason Richardson any inclination to play defense now.